S T. LOUIS – Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton organized baseball’s first important and socially distanced referee argument, then earned his first major league manager victory when the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5 -1 on Sunday.
Colin Moran and Jose Osuna homered and Mitch Keller pitched five solid innings for the Pirates.
Shelton went out to argue with home plate umpire Jordan Baker in the third inning after pitcher Derek Holland was sent off for arguing balls and shots.
Shelton covered his face with a gaiter as he left the shelter, and Baker pulled a mask from his pocket and brought it to his face while Shelton argued about 6 feet away. Baker let Shelton say his part, and the first-year employer was not expelled.
Despite the strange circumstances of the argument, Shelton complimented Baker on the dust.
“Jordan did a very good job of it. We were trying to stay distant, which we were both aware of,” he said. “Then his mask broke halfway. [our argument] so I wanted to make sure my mask stayed on and that he was great.
“He handled it professionally. I think it was the first time, and we were both in an unfamiliar area, and then when I got out there later, we had a little laugh.”
Pittsburgh avoided being swept and beat the Cardinals for the second time in their last 14 games. The Pirates made sure this was a game to celebrate, all for their new manager.
“They gave me a pretty severe shower of beer, ” Shelton said.” I think anyone who knows me knows that I am [mad] We waste so much beer. ”
Keller (1-0) faced St. Louis for the first time in his career. He gave up one run, two hits and three walks while striking out three. His only stain was when Kolten Wong scored on Tommy Edman’s infield single in the third inning.
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson (0-1) allowed four runs, including two home runs, in 4⅓ innings. Hudson lost for the first time in four career starts against the Pirates, and it was his first loss against a National League Central Division opponent after winning his previous five starts in 2019.
Pittsburgh scored three runs in the fourth. Moran hit a home run with two outs, and that was followed by Phillip Evans’ infield single and a two-run shot to the center of Osuna for a 3-1 lead.
Jacob Stallings scored on a sacrifice fly by Josh Bell to make it 4-1 in the fifth. They made it 5-1 in the eighth when Bell scored from the first with a Phillip Evans double.
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